The ship opens up with Paris romantically beaming himself in to give flowers to B’Elanna in the Jefferies tubes. He ditched her the night before and is trying to butter her up. They seem to be getting pretty hot and heavy, with some serious alone time needs.

The doctor is giving Janeway a pretty rough massage for the migraines she’s been having. Stress seems to be taking its toll, and she hasn’t been sleeping. Chakotay calls her to the bridge to see binary pulsars, and she almost walks out of the room in just her towel.

Paris shows up in engineering to ‘drop off some reports,’ and B’Elanna takes him up to the upper level and jumps him! Tuvok walks in, catching them in the act. Paris tries to find out whether or not he’s going to turn them in, but Tuvok either doesn’t care to turn them in, or simply doesn’t care. Paris and B’Elanna talk over whether they should make their relationship public or not, but before they can make a choice, a very-stressed-out Janeway calls them out on it. She doesn’t reprimand them, but reams them pretty good.

Chakotay goes back to his quarters, and we see him being viewed from a 3rd person perspective, with a full scan of his body. He suddenly feels pain, and then he doubles over. He reaches the mirror and all of his hair starts falling out. Once in sickbay, the doctor announces that he’s aged 50 years instantly, and that there’s no plausible explanation for it. Then, Nelix falls over in pain in the mess hall, seemingly having a sub-species level of his DNA become the dominant and active genetic material. As the two of them sit in sick bay, they banter back and forth about which one of them has the worst of it! SO funny!

The doctor and B’Elanna set up a science station, and find barcodes on the base pair sequences of their genetic code. This is a superior technology to anything they’ve seen, and have no idea how it’s occurred. As they make this realization, the doctor’s program flickers. Someone is trying to delete him. B’Elanna tries to transfer him back to sickbay, but suddenly collapses. The doctor finished the transfer and disappears.

Paris and the others find B’Elanna, but the science lab research was erased. The doctor is MIA and B’Elanna only barely survived. Seven suddenly hears the doctor, who has routed communications through her auditory processor. He tells her he’s hiding in DaVinci’s program, so he doesn’t get deleted. Seven comes to him, and he adjusts her processors to see at a phased variance. She walks the ship, and sees aliens roaming the corridors, poking and prodding the Voyager crew. They’re experimenting on everyone, including herself. She tries to tell Janeway, but Janeway has two aliens by her when she approaches, and a dozen needles sticking out of her head. Seven tries to do a ship wide sweep, but Tuvok catches her. As he tries to stop her, she shoots one of the aliens and makes her visible to the rest of the crew.

Janeway locks up the alien, but the alien tells her only that she’s trying to research for her own kind’s survival, and she won’t stop the experiments. She’s been raising Janeway’s dopamine levels to see how she’ll deal with stress, giving her the headaches and sleepless nights. She only assures Janeway that there will be minimal mortality.

One of the ensigns has a severe blood pressure. 360/80 (damn.) The ensign dies (Poor yellow shirt… you’re the red shirt of the next generation.) and Janeway snaps. She takes the helm control and flies it directly through the binary pulsars. Tuvok comments that this is worse than her normal reckless behavior with less than 1:20 odds of survival; the alien tries to talk her out of it, and realizes that she’s not bluffing. She flees, and two ships release from the hull. Only one of them made it out. Voyager flies to safety, and Janeway tells Tuvok “You’ve never told me I was reckless before.” Tuvok responds, “It was clearly an understatement!”

The episode finishes with B’Elanna and Tom discussing whether they were actually interested, or if it was just the aliens messing with their hormones. They agree that they probably had been manipulated, and then start making out.

Janeway, Neelix and B’Ellana have met a new telepathic species on a planet and are trading goods and merchandise with them. Tuvok and Nimira, the constable for the Mari people, are discussing how they have virtually eliminated all crime on the planet. Tuvok agrees to allow her to tour Voyager, in order to give her a better idea of their own legal system. Back on the planet, a man bumps into B’Ellana, and a few moments later loses control and assaults another person in the square.

As they are touring the ship Nimira tells Tuvok that she finds the idea of isolation barbaric. Completely cut off from all interaction deters personal growth, not enhances it. He replies that it has only been used roughly 1% of their voyage, which is interesting, because other than Suitor and his murder, who else has committed an act that has warranted the brig? Over ~3.5 years, that’s still about a hundred days of brig time.

When the assault is reported, Neelix, B’Ellana and Janeway are interrogated, which involves reading their thoughts. After the interview, it is determined that B’Ellana’s thoughts instigated the assault, as it had been passed onto the telepath assailant. She is sentenced to an engram wipe, which is a dangerous procedure. (I haven’t decided if it was clever or cliché to personify the term ‘thought police’…)

Tuvok investigates, and during the investigation, a second assault occurs. This time, an elderly woman kills the girl that Neelix was going on a date with. With the previous assailant and B’Ellana already under arrest, Tuvok realizes that there must be a separate cause of the attacks. He mind melds with B’Ellana, and finds that when she was bumped, the merchant she was with probed her thoughts in the moments directly afterwards. Tuvok seeks him out, and after initially giving him the brush-off, finds him dealing illegal thoughts. The violence prohibition has opened up a lucrative market in violence, and the merchant offers to deal with Tuvok for his. Tuvok threatens to take him in, so the merchant and his friends overpower him and try to probe his mind. Tuvok offers them willingly if they will mind meld, but then psychologically tortures the man. Tuvok brings him into custody right as constable Nimira has started B’Ellana’s engram purge.

The last scene is Seven barging in on Captain Janeway without knocking. She argues that trying to reach home and meeting new species are incompatible goals. Janeway replies that it’s the foundation of humans (and Starfleet) as a people, and to simply miss the opportunity they have would defeat their mission as a culture. Seven leaves with no ado, and Janeway is left a look that says she’s going to soon readdress Seven’s understanding of protocol.

Favorite Part: I like the idea of a prohibition style black market for thought; it says something about human nature.

Least favorite part: Nimira, she seemed quite unconcerned for the law as a woman of the law. She seemed more pissed off that she had to do work then she was over the beating or homicide. Also, Janeway looked a bit rough this episode.

Janeway is in her Da Vinci program, arguing with Leonardo about why he never finishes anything, when Chakotay communicates that they are under attack. The aliens are firing at voyager, but simultaneously beaming technology off the ship. They take the main computer core, weapons, torpedo casing, rations (WHY?), and the doctor’s emitter. Naturally, the crew gets ready for a rescue/salvage operation.

Janeway and Tuvok head on a salvage operation, and find the alien who is selling their work. However, once they get there, they also find Da Vinci, who was also beamed off the ship since his program was running, and he is using the mobile emitter. He is acting as a living character who is now working for his patron prince. He has been designing his works, and the prince has given him a workshop filled with high end technology. Da Vinci believes that he is in America and that the Portuguese had brought him over on one of their advanced ships.

Janeway communicates to the ship that she has located the stolen goods, but the city is surrounded by a dampening field. As she finished her communications, she is caught by the alien who is selling the goods (Leonardo’s “Prince”), but as he is about to shoot her, Da Vinci knocks him out and they flee from the guards.

As they flee, Da Vinci uses basic concepts to “brilliantly” give them advantages. Sun and shadows! The two of them go to the warehouse, and use signal amplifiers to have Voyager beam the computer out. As they flee out of the dispersal field, they get on his flying apparatus and glide off the cliff, out of the field and Voyager beams them up as the aliens passively watch them flying away.

Favorite part- Da Vinci raving about the Portuguese. It was also an interesting way to look at a technologically advanced unit from a non-technologically advanced point-of-view (Da Vinci). Da Vinici was enthralled by the advanced objects, but in the end, his simple craft brought them to safety.

Least favorite part- The whole episode seemed very contrived. I’m sure the writers just looked for a way to have Da Vinci be a full character in an episode and loosely wrote a weak plot around it.

Neelix is the main character of the opener and it shows the various ways he is the "good guy" who goes out of his way to help people. He agrees to an away mission with chakotay, but before he goes he tells his god daughter a story about the great forrest( the Telaxian version of the after life), and helps 7 with her taste buds. While on the away mission, in the shuttle craft, Neelix is killed.

I knew he would be back somehow, it is Neelix! My husband kept taunting me that one of my favorite characters was dead, but I did not fall for it. How could we lose Neelix? He is to much of the "handy man/fix-all" to lose this early in the show. He lives because 7 is allowed to use her blood and nano probes to inject Neelix to bring him back to life. Janeway tries to make Neelix take time off, but he resists.

Neelix tells Chakotay he was disappointed because the great forest and guiding tree were not real, they did not show up when he was dead. chakotay tries to reassure him, but it did not work. He was angry and hurt. I like this episode because we get to see Neelix in a different perspective. He actually shows a new emotion besides happiness. Even when Kes left him he seemed content. In this episode we see his dark side. He is angry, hateful, and resentful.

When Neelix is putting Naoimi to bed she asks to her about the great forest and while he tried to settle her and make her sleep, you could hear the disillusionment in his voice. He lost his religion, and his wish to live. He no longer feels like himself any longer. He even hollowed at 7. He is so distraught that he asks Chakotay to aid him on a vision quest, so he could figure out what is wrong with him. After the quest Neelix feels that he needs to commit suicide.

A plea from Chakotay and a call from his goddaughter keep him from killing himself, but the episode never clarified what his final decision regarding his religion is. Did he reconcile himself with his religion in his decision to live, or did he chose to live because of his sense of duty?

Favorite part: the Kazon were unworthy of assimilation. Not sure why, but this cracked me up.

Least favorite part: the doctor tells Neelix he set a new world record for being dead the longest. The world? Which world? His home world? Earth?

Seven finds a communication relay that somehow extends all the way to the Alpha quadrant. At the exact time of finding it, a Starfleet vessel is in range of it, allowing them a chance for communication. For some reason, though, while they can see the other ship, they can’t get a message through, so in a last ditch effort for communication, B’Elanna downloads the doctor and sends his program through the system.

The doctor finds himself in the sickbay of the Prometheus, a prototype starship in the Alpha quadrant. Unfortunately, the whole crew is dead, being killed by Romulans who are trying to steal the new technology on-board. The doctor activates the EMH on ship, who I assume was sardonically made to look like Andy Dick from their data base of 19th century earth as a joke, who has a typically whiny attitude and the Doctor must whip into line.

The Romulans are chased by a Federation ship, but they deploy a new tactical maneuver that breaks the ship into three parts and then disables it easily. The Doctor determines that they are headed back to Romulan space, and the two EMHs set to sabotaging the ship. The ship, being equipped with holoemiters everywhere, makes the whole ship accessible. However, one of the Romulans suspects them of their espionage, and is about to destroy the Doctor, when EMH mark 2 neutralizes the whole crew. However, the Romulans send ships to meet the Prometheus, and Starfleet has, too. They try to help, but only end up shooting a Starfleet vessel by accident. The Doctor remembers the separation sequence, however, and as the ship breaks apart, he remembers to tell the computer to shoot at the Romulans this time. They withdraw, and he saves the day.

The Doctor returns to Voyager, and relays a message to the Captain. Starfleet has begun working on a way to get them home. Suddenly 60,000 light years doesn’t seem quite so far.

Favorite part: The doctor pushing around the newer, but bitchier, EMH.

Least Favorite part: While I know every other person out there is going to assume Andy Dick is front-runner, I have to go with the very premise of the storyline. You’re going to send the doctor on a whim? REALLY? The most valuable, irreplaceable member of the crew for the entire crew’s safety, and you’re just going to shoot him through untested networks that can’t send a verbal message with 45 seconds notice? He wasn’t even asked. Mind you, an order is an order, but there’s something about the way B’Elanna took him and sent him through that felt more like kidnapping.

Was Chakotay's warning that some people may not be over joyed that they are alive pointed at Janeway? Was that his hint to her that maybe your fiancé moved on, so keep considering me? Hint, hint, wink, wink....

I feel like Seven should be more confused. I like the idea of transforming a Borg, and adding her to the crew, but she does not seem to struggle enough. She is concerned about things that are important to Janeway and she responds to her like that is where her loyalty has always lain.

The ship receives letters from home. While this is a nice first transmission, should they not have sent useful information that may have helped them get home first? At least letters from home make for good TV. Neelix was the natural choice for the mailman.

Tuvok is so cute. He tried to pretend that he did not want to read the letter, but as soon as Neelix left he picked it up. Janeways response was sullen. I am not sure if she was happy about the letter from her fiancé or sad. Chakotay was sad because all of the Maquis except the Voyager crew are dead, slaughtered by the Cardassians and the Dominion.

The signal starts to degrade and seven goes in with Tuvok to fix it. She is worried about him going, thinking that it is an insult of the captains suspicion. As they come closer to the station,they are attacked and captured by hirogen hunters.

Tom gets a letter from his father. He's terrified of what it says. He has a better life on voyager than he ever had at home, and wanted to forget about it. Chakotay talks to Janeway, whose fiancé has married another woman. I feel like chakotay was veeeery interested to hear that... all in all, The letters from home haven't turned out very well for a lot of people...

Tuvok and seven have both awoken on the hirogen ship. They want to keep the trophies for their livers and intestines... I loved the exchange between the hirogen and seven... "What could you possibly want with my intestines?" "Men will envy me and women will desire me!" "You are a crude species."

The final conversation with Janeway and chakotay also felt like a very sexually charged atmosphere... Hoping to see some action for the officers soon!

Favorite part: the doctors musings with Seven about him becoming a hero, and her counter that they will probably erase his program and update him.

Least favorite part: the communication tower exploded...no more communications from home....sad, but understandable.

The hirogen attack species8472 . I think the hirogen are going to get their asses kicked. Why is Seven hanging out on the bridge? Janeway certainly has a lot of patience with her. Janeway is very compassionate, and I sense she really wants to help Seven, but how much back talk will she take before her and Seven have to have a serious discussion? I just do not understand the role of Seven yet, although I love the acting! There just has not been enough conflict with her entry into the crew.

Members of Voyager board the damaged hirogen vessel. They save the pilot,and bring him to sickbay. Species 8472 also goes to the ship. The hirogen bargains with Janeway to let him hunt with her, and he will tell his species to leave Voyager alone.

Six ships are closing on their position, so time is running short in the hunt. 8472has sealed off a deck disabled the life support, and eliminated gravity. The crew, in their gravity suits, goes in with the hunter. There is a firefight, but the hirogen goes for a kill, making tuvok shoot him in the back. 8472 is injured and constrained by a force field. It makes a psychic link with tuvix, telling the story of its war against the Borg and how it only wants to go home. The captain tells seven to make a link to fluidic space, but she refuses. I think Janeway is losing her patience with Seven.

The six hirogen ships arrive, and they aren't ready. The hirogen approaches the force field, wanting to kill the alien, but the alien breaks free first. Seven hacks the transporters and beams them both to a hirogen ship. Voyager breaks free and flies to safety. Janeway reams Seven a new one, finally putting her into rank and file. She loses almost all of her privileges, and can either work astrometrics or stay in the cargo bay for the rest of the journey.

I assume the Hirogen will be the next antagonists for little while...At least I hope so. They amuse me with their hunting mentality. I do kind of wish we would have found out if the cauldron of boiling meat was their food....it would make a difference in how Startrek perceives them (at least I assume it would...I don't feel like Janeway would be as compasionate toward cannibals...)

Favorite part: Janeway finally puts Seven in her place.

Least favorite part: I really didn't dislike anything in this episode... Simply a well constructed piece of Star Trek !!!

That quip aside... commentary for a few episodes, you're back with a vengeance!

Message in a Bottle... cliche episode on a number of levels. If they got frequent flier light years for all the plot conveniences in this one episode, they'd be back home already. But despite all that Doctor centered episodes are fun. My favorite moment was when they fired and hit the wrong ship.

Hunters... well this really introduces the Hirogen. Sure they were in last episode briefly, but not much substance there. Or here really. They hunt people, they get off on it, they take trophies. Ah another cliche Trek race where all members conform to a single stereotype. Honestly I enjoyed the character moments the letters provided more than I did the "action" parts. But at least they got rid of that super plot convenience relay.

Prey... I guess it was nice to see Species 8472, and Tony Todd proves how awesome he is no matter what role he plays. No real lasting consequences on this one though. The Hirogen -will- still be after Voyager, 8472 won't care about them saving that fellow and Seven's grounding will last about as long as you think. As for your question regarding her role? Pretty much it's ship's smart person like Spock or Data. Unless you think the Kim/Torres duo did it properly?

Plus yeah... Janeway/Seven are either mother/daughter relationship or sleeping together. The fanbase is divided on this one to this day.

Hunters
[...]
Chakotay talks to Janeway, whose fiancé has married another woman. I feel like chakotay was veeeery interested to hear that... all in all,
[...]
The final conversation with Janeway and chakotay also felt like a very sexually charged atmosphere... Hoping to see some action for the officers soon!
[...]

Click to expand...

You know, that there are deleted scenes between those two in this episode? Scenes which show how close they could have been? But they cut the scenes.